Post by ♚Meme Bird ♚ on Oct 6, 2015 18:04:10 GMT -5
Daughter of the River || A WC:UT CYOA, otter's tail
This is a tale. Not of a cat, but an extrodinary animal, one who lives among the fierce warrior felines who call the forest home. When the reign of Firestar, and finally Bramblestar has passed, the clans are now at peace, and still protect their borders, heeding to the warrior code. But will this peace be able to stay intact when a curious mammal is harbored within one of the clans? And can a secret be kept among the cats? Even if it means risking their life, and the safety of all clans?
It was late at night, just a day before I would have my kits. I could feel it- my soon to be litter kicking inside me. I knew I was supposed to be in the nursery, but that didn't stop me. I was wild, adventurous and young, still seeking excitement. I would try to journey down to the river, feel the cold wind whipping around me face and fur, soothing me, and the smooth, wet grass beneath my paws as I would stare at the rushing river.
I knew it wouldn't be soon before I went into labor, and I wanted to spend as much time as possible, savoring the feeling before I was finally cooped up in a hot, uncomfortable den for five more months. This would be a good thing. This river would be my secret, and as far as I knew, nobody else had to know. As I came down to the frothing water, the rain pounding down hard from the sky and pelting my fur with light, but cooling drops, I barely smelled the thing before I saw it. A new scent came rushing into my nose, all at once. I smelled a new scent; something I had never smelled before. It smelled like a young creature; it smelled of fear, of fur and milk. Just like a kit would, but different.
Thinking I could find a new exotic creature, and a bit elated at something new coming to rest into the forest - something I would discover first - I crept forward slowly and quietly, turning my nose towards the scent and hoping not to scare off whatever it was that I had found. That's when I saw it. It was a baby, about the size of a kit. The first thing I noticed was that despite it's strange smell, it closely resembled a cat. It had once soft brown fur, now dampened by the steady stream of rain coming down from above. It squirmed helplessly as I came closer, and I had to reach out a paw to prevent it from falling over into the river. It was out here, alone, cold and frightened with no one to look after it. Would the mother not come? I sniffed the air, scenting for another scent, expecting a foreign creature to come jumping out of nowhere, fangs bared and eyes flashing. But after a moment of waiting, I saw nothing.
Those days, I was young and foolish. I took pity on the creature, grabbing it by the scruff of it's neck and carrying it back to camp. As I quietly snuck back into the nursery den, licked the squealing creature, silencing it and drying it, then snuggled up against it. I watched with lovingness in my eyes as it burrowed into my golden fur and suckled. As the sky darkened, I hid it with me until the late hours of the night, and fell into labor.
Last Edit: Jan 24, 2016 17:00:12 GMT -5 by ♚Meme Bird ♚
"Hmm...my favorite memory? I have too many to count,but i guess, it would be the memory of meeting all you and making friends here on the forums. :3" ”One day I’m going to sit down and make a list of all the books that I finished reading....” “It's going to be a long list...”
The delivery of the kits came swiftly and easily. However, it was not without a loss. Two kits had been born in total, yet one died. The kit slipped out of my body, bloodied, small and skinny. It was a weak thing. The kit posessed the color of my pelt; it's bright golden-yellow fur resembled mine. It was a female as well, and I felt a tinge of sadness knowing I had just lost a she-kit. But the other kit- a male- was strong and healthy. He was born with little difficulty, and I felt some pride at this. I licked my son clean as my clan mates came to gather around me. The warriors marveled at my miraculous delivery, and admired my kits. Then I remembered yesterday. The pounding rain, the squealing creature. I carefully nudged the resting critter to the front of my stomach, where all could see. I felt a strange urge of caring and responsibility for this strange and foreign animal. I had felt pity for it- even though it was probably not my right, I felt that I could not leave a young creature to starve to death out in the cold of night. Who could blame me, after all? I was a nursery queen. It was my duty to care and nurture. But, I thought quietly to myself, my duties may have bought me to a whole new level of care. I regarded the young animal. Was bringing an unknown creature into the clan the right thing to do? As much as I pitied it?
I rested the tip of my tail on the head of mykit; the one that came out of my womb and survived. His fur was grey, like the color of the stones that I found by the river that night. His eyes weren't open yet, and he was still just a mewling, naked kit, but I knew what his name were to be. "Bluekit." I announced suddenly, my eyes fixed on him with pride. I knew he would grow up to be a proud, strong warrior. Then my tail snaked over and rested on the now dry head of the foreign creature I would call my own. "Weaslekit." I said simply, coming up from a name that came from off the top of my head. It was pretty spot on actually. The strange animal in a way, did have the body of one, though much stouter. "They're so cute!" Silverstone appraised from the nursery entrance. Her eyes gleamed with delight. "You have the most adorable kits, Streamtail. Congratulations." Then, as if awkwardly remembering something, her pale eyes drifted towards my hind legs where the unmoving heap of fur lay. Her eyes suddenly saddened, and her smile turned into a deep frown. "I'm so sorry for what happened." She said quietly, coming to stand by me and lay a comforting tail on my shoulder. All I could do was nod wearily from the comfort of my nest. Though as smoothly was the birthing, it had left me tired and sapped of all energy. I watched with a growing pain in my chest as Jadepelt and Sandlake rushed over to carry the limp, dead body of my kit out of the den and preform a proper burial for her. "Beekit." I call out sadly after the clan guards, whom turn to stare at me through confused eyes. "Her name is Beekit." I say, my eyes clouded over with sadness as I say my final goodbye to my kit. "Farewell Beekit."
As Bluekit and Weaslekit suckled, that night I found it difficult to sleep. -
Newleaf day 4, year 1
I can feel the bright sun on my face, warming me with a tingling sensation. I feel an odd warmth surround me. I have been waiting for this day. Today will be the day that I become an apprentice along with my brother. I wonder what it would be like to live as warrior in RiverClan. I know it's a long way away, but I am still determined to make it. What useful things would I learn, growing up and living in this life? I knew I had always been different from the start, like I didn't belong here. But I was born and raised in this clan. I was still a cat, right? Of course. What else would I be? It seemed so long ago when Streamtail used to cuddle next to me, nipping it my short tiny ears until they grew tough and slowly extended over the moons. I always wondered why she would do this, and I would always complain about it hurting, batting at my ears and expecting them to turn back to their small soft state. I remember her telling me it was for my own good, and scolding me when I tried messing with it. But no amount of nipping or pulling would change the fact that I had the roundest and smallest ears in the clan. I was often teased about it, though I payed no mind to the jaunts and jeers of the other kits. The other clan members thought this was odd and often declared that it was a 'deformation'. But my ears weren't even the worst of it. It was pretty obvious, and as I grew up, I began looking less and less like a cat. The webbed feet, and the short, stout body gave it all away. As I began weaning, and changing from Streamtail's steady supply of milk, it was made obvious that my eating habits weren't like the rest. I was obsessed with fish, and it was practically all I would eat aside from frogs and maybe the occasional bird. But mice were a no and I completely ignored it all together. Thinking back on these things, I now wonder if I would ever make a good warrior. Would I ever fit in? Is being different from the rest a good thing? I may never know. Sometimes I wonder where I come from. I know that Streamtail takes care of me, but I can distantly recall fuzzy memories bubbling up to the surface about pounding slick rain and the rushing river; but that's all. I decide it's enough time recalling things now. There's no time to sit and stare off into space. I've already finished my vigil and Bluepaw's probably waiting for me outside the entrance.
I greet Bluepaw with a flick of my tail. "My mentor is out, probably on a patrol or something." He replies, his blue eyes focused distantly on the horizon. "Let's celebrate as newly transformed apprentices." Bluepaw turns to me with a mischievous smile. "What do you want to do?" He asked, flicking his tail and gesturing towards the forest.
- Explore the borders and travel around the forest.
- Go out for a little hunting trip. Catching some prey won't hurt.
- Swim in around in the stream that borders ThunderClan territory. Make sure no one catches you, though!
- Spar for a bit and test your moves out on each other. See who wins!
Last Edit: Nov 1, 2015 23:22:45 GMT -5 by ♚Meme Bird ♚
"Hmm...my favorite memory? I have too many to count,but i guess, it would be the memory of meeting all you and making friends here on the forums. :3" ”One day I’m going to sit down and make a list of all the books that I finished reading....” “It's going to be a long list...”
- Go out for a little hunting trip. Catching some prey won't hurt.
"Let's go hunt." I decide. "We can feed the clan and prove we're already capable apprentices while we're at it." I suggest. Bluepaw nods his agreement. "Sure. Let's start downstream from the river that borders ThunderClan and RiverClan. It's close to camp, and there we can stay out of trouble." I follow my littermate out of the clan camp. There, I am greeted by questions as to where I am going by the clan guards. Me and Bluepaw respond by saying that we're just going out to hunt near the clan. We are replied by small chuckles and calls of 'Good luck'.
"Pssh." Bluepaw sniffs beside me. "They think that we're just apprentices that we can't hunt."
"We are apprentices. New ones in fact. We've never even tried so much as hunting a bug before in our life, and even if we tried, I'm pretty sure we'd fail."
Bluepaw just scoffs, silenced and dumbfounded. I'm pretty sure he knows what I say is true, even though he's too proud to admit it. "Just keep going." He says quietly to me, moving onward.
We finally arrived at the stream. I was instantly mesmerized by the rushing, frothy water. Instantly, the flashback came to me again. The dark, bubbling water of the river and a large, gentle paw reaching over...
I blink hard, and notice that Bluepaw is staring at me. "I'm alright." I manage in cat-speak before he can even utter a word, and I lift thick, and smooth-furred tail, gesturing towards the water. "Let's get started, shall we?" Bluepaw silently positions himself on the bank and crouches, one paw lifted as if ready to spring any moment. "I heard this is how you catch fish." He says. But my instincts are urging me towards the water. Something is not right here... the way that he is catching fish. I hop into the water. Suddenly filled with a new, uncanny strength, I propel myself forward with powerful strokes of my thick tail. I glide through the water easily, and as I spot a fish swimming near my jaw, I instinctively lash out, opening my mouth and expecting to bite down hard on slippery flesh. But instead, I close down nothing but water. But I am temporarily greeted with a flash of cold wet skin. The fish is knocked off-balance by my large nose, and I snap my head back, hoping to grip it with my teeth. Then I come back up for air. Bluepaw is beside me, kicking out his legs desperately in an effort to swim as he clings to the bank. "What were you trying to do?" He shrills in a loud voice. "You could have drowned!"
"Not me." I reply coolly. "I didn't drown. Even you couldn't swim the way I did. Now quiet. The whole of ThunderClan is going to hear you and come down here if you keep on making more noise." Bluepaw is quiet for a while, but he is still seething, and I can practically hear the angry thoughts in his head.
"Where did the fish go?" I ask curiously, gazing around. "You probably scared them all away, with your crazy splashing and nonsensical little water adventure." He replies sarcastically, venom dripping from his voice.
I spot something in the corner of my eye, and I turn to see that it is a grey fish flopping helplessly on the bank. "There!" I gasp breathlessly, racing out of the stream as fast as possible and practically heaving myself onto the bank to stamp a triumphant webbed paw on the fish, holding it down. "I got it! Must have got stranded when I flipped it up with my snout." "I could care less how that thing ended up on the bank. Let's just take it back to camp." Bluepaw quickly moves in front of me and seizes the flopping fish from my paws, giving the killing bite.
A few moments later, we arrive at camp. Bluepaw doesn't even try hiding the smug look on his face as we pad past the guards. The meows of my fellow clanmates answer us. "Wow, is that a fish?" "Impressive!" "Such great luck. They're already proving themselves capable apprentices!"
I beam at my clanmates each in turn. Streamtail looks at us with pride, a smile playing at her lips. Around us are some fellow apprentices, along with a couple of warriors and even two of the kits from the nursery, Stonekit and Gleamkit. Bluepaw drops the fish in front of Weaslelake, gazes at the surrounding warrior and then proceeds to entrance them with the tail of how the fish was caught. I cast him a warning glare to make sure that he does not forget to include me and steal the credit for himself. Bluepaw caught my stare, and began with "Me and Weaslepaw both caught it! It was a narrow catch..." I wasn't listening to half of the story he told. "...Then Weaslepaw jumped into the water! She swam so fast! She was almost like a water-cat I tell you!" "A water-cat..?" Bluepaw nodded. "Weaslepaw is a great swimmer." "In the meantime, you should take this to Clearstar. She would be impressed that you managed to catch a fish so early in your apprentice days." Suggested Spotwhisker. The idea of showing this off to Clearstar was a satisfying thought, and we both agreed to show it to the leader of RiverClan right away.
"Clearstar! Come and see this!" Hawkclaw soon called. "This is amazing." The leader of RiverClan soon came out of her den to see the fuss, and studied the fish that we had brought on the first day of our apprenticeship. "So soon?" She asked incredulously. "It was sort of like a lucky catch." I chirped excitedly, but I was soon shushed by a look by Bluepaw. He obviously did not want anyone knowing that our catch had been so narrow. I noticed that Clearstar was prodding and poking at the fish, sniffling closely and wrinkling her nose in disgust. She looked up. "This may indeed be an lucky catch, but this fish is sick." Clearstar stated bluntly. "What do you mean, Clearstar?" Mousepounce asked curiously from the log which she stood by. I was confused. Sick? How? "This fish must have eaten something bad. Look how scrawny it is. And it seems to be leaking puss from an opening in it's scales." She meowed, indicating her head towards the dead fish. "If that's the case," Hawkclaw rumbled. "The stream is not safe enough to fish in anymore, is it?" "No." Clearstar shook her head. "We've got to find out what made this fish so sick. If I assumed correctly, as I said before, it must have eaten something. I'll send out a patrol to check the stream Weaslepaw and Bluepaw fished in. Maybe we can find out what it ate, if it ate something, and we can do something about it. But as far as I know, the gorge is still safe to fish in." That's a relief. "You'll call a clan meeting about it?" Willowfur asks. "If possible, we'll need to find when it happened." "Of course. But in the meantime, we'll need to throw this fish away." Clearstar dipped her head towards me. "It's been a good catch, but I'm afraid we'll have to dispose of it."
In all honesty, I was not so concerned about the fish. The clan would soon find out what would be causing all the problem. But the next big question was what would I do?
- Offer to go help on the expedition to find what has contaminated the stream
- Let your mentor train you and take you around RiverClan's territory
- Help the medicine cat out and become their assistant for the day!
Last Edit: Nov 9, 2015 16:57:14 GMT -5 by ♚Meme Bird ♚